of the Church seems ready to be hurried by fresh waves into the deep. And what shall she do in this time of peril? Could our feeble voice reach her ears, the words of the Roman poet to his storm-tost country would be our language also. We should say to her, amidst these signs of tempest, Fortiter occupa portum.' Let her beware. of losing the firm anchor-hold of the word of prophecy. There let her secure a knowledge of her place in the safe harbor of Divine Providence. Let no crude or novel theories of any of her children tempt her to weigh the anchors of her hope, and to commit herself without chart or compass to the tossing waves of time. Instead of casting aside the precious truths which Fathers and Reformers have committed to our keeping, through the unthinking haste that will not wait to free them from the incrusted error, let her rather abide by the old landmarks, while she goes on to perfection by a fuller understanding of the truth. Let the Church of God, and especially our own favored Church, follow this course, and she will not fail to trace, in the word of prophecy, the unbroken line of God's judgments and mercies, through all the days of her widowhood, till her Lord shall return. While the children of this world walk on in darkness, and all the foundations of the earth are out of course, she will thus dwell in a Goshen of heavenly light and blessed liberty. The wiles both of her inward and outward enemies will thus be unmaskedtheir approaches laid bare-and their violence repelled. And even should the darkness and the storm thicken around her, she will still be able to lift up her head with joy and gladness, and will know the more assuredly that her redemption draweth nigh."-Church of England Quarterly Review, for April, 1840.

LECTURE VII.

THE PRIMITIVE ANTIQUITY OF THE DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH'S PRE-MILLENNIAL ADVENT AND PERSONAL

REIGN ITS PRACTICAL UTILITY.

"THUS SAITH THE LORD, STAND YE IN THE WAYS, AND SEE, AND ASK FOR THE OLD PATHS, WHERE IS THE GOOD WAY, AND WALK THEREIN, AND

IE SHALL FIND REST. BUT THEY SAID, WE WILL NOT WALK THEREIN. ALSO I SET WATCHMEN OVER YOU, SAYING, HEARKEN TO THE SOUND of THE TRUMPET. BUT THEY SAID, WE WILL NOT HEARKEN. Jer. vi. 16, 17.

Introduction-an erroneous opinion noticed--design of this lecture-the testimony of Barnabas---of Papias---of Polycarp-of Justin Martyr-of Irenaeus-of Tertullian-of Cyprian--the allegorizing mode of interpretation advocated by Origen-evidence of the historian Gibbon-the testimony of Lactantius-of Epiphanius-opinions of Augustine and Jerome in the fifth century--Henshaw on the second advent--views of the reformers--King Edward the Sixth's Catechism—prayer book of the Church of England--the doctrine of a spiritual millennium previous to the second personal advent is a novelty of modern times--exhortation to stand in the old paths--the great practical utility of the doctrine of Messiah's personal reign-Note, President Davies--McNeile's eloquent appeal-conclusion.

Many persons are under the impression, that in these lectures we have been advocating novel and strange doctrines, and not only that, but abstract speculations of no practical utility. We shall therefore shew by the testimony of the early fathers of the Church, that these are the good old paths which were trod by saints and martyrs during the first three centuries of the Christian era, and then proceed to make a few reflections on the practical utility of the doctrine.

We begin, therefore, with the early fathers of the Church, and the first whose testimony we quote is Barnabas, who

wrote soon after the destruction of Jerusalem.* Speaking of the creation he says, "And God made in six days the works of his hands, and he finished them on the seventh day, and he rested the seventh day, and sanctified it. Consider my children what that signifieth; he finished them in six days. The meaning of it is this, that in six thousand years the Lord God will bring all things to an end. For with him one day is a thousand years, as himself testifieth, saying, Behold this day shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, shall all things be accomplished. And what is that he saith, and he rested the seventh day: he meaneth this, that when his Son shall come, and abolish the season of the Wicked One, and judge the ungodly, and shall change the sun and the moon and the stars, then he shall gloriously rest in that seventh day. He adds lastly, thou shalt sanctify it with clean hands and a pure heart; wherefore, we are greatly deceived if we imagine that any one can now sanctify that day which God has made holy, without having a heart pure in all things. Behold, therefore, he will then truly sanctify it with blessed rest, when we (having received the righteous promise, when iniquity shall be no more, all things being renewed by the Lord,) shall be able to sanctify it, being ourselves first made holy."+

We next call your attention to the testimony of Papias, as quoted by Eusebius. (See Hist. lib. iii., sect. 39.) "There will be a certain thousand years after the resur

• Chapin on the Primitive Church, New Haven ed. 1842, p. 59.

See in Archbishop Wake's Collection of the Apostolic Fathers, the General Epistle of Barnabas. Chapter xiii. pp. 254, 255; edition 1834, Hartford, Ct.

The quotations from these early writers, with the exception of those from Archbp.Wake's Coll., are given, for the most part, on the authority of Brooks' very able and valuable work entitled "Elements of Prophetical Interpretation," republished in the Literalist, Philadelphia, 1841.

*

rection of the dead, when the kingdom of Christ shall be established corporeally on this earth." Such is the testimony of Papias, who, according to Eusebius and Jerome, was a disciple of John and a companion of Polycarp. I am aware that Eusebius-who became bishop of Cesarea early in the fourth century, and whom St. Jerome calls the Prince of the Arians,t-"disparages" this disciple of St. John, "as being illiterate and a man of weak judgment, when he has to deal with his testimony on this point; but he speaks of him as being eloquent and learned in the Scriptures, when he adverts to him on another occasion." But "we have nothing to do in the present instance with the judgment of Papias, but only with his veracity; for his evidence respects, not what he thought himself, but what he heard from others :‡ and all have given him credit for being an eminently pious and good man; one proof of which, and also of his wisdom and understanding is, that by the immediate successors of the apostles he was considered qualified to be made bishop of Hierapolis." (See Brooks' El. of Proph. Interpr. pp. 37, 38. Phil. ed. 1841.)

We next refer you to Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, the cotemporary of Papias and the disciple of St. John. He says, that if we please [the Lord] in this present world, we shall also be made partakers of that which is to come, according as he has promised to us, that he will raise us from the dead; and that if we walk worthy of him, we shall also reign together with him, if we

*Eusebii Hist. lib. iii., and Hieron. Ep. xxix. 19.

Blake's Biographical Dictionary, Art. Eusebius, p. 321.

'He states "that what he relates are the very words of the elders, Andrew, Peter, Philip, Thomas, James, John, Matthew, Aristio, and John the Pres byter, as related to him by those of whom he constantly made th inquiry;" and he pledges himself to the "truth and fidelity of what he reports."' Brooks, ib, Note p. 37.

believe." In another place he says, "But who of you are ignorant of the judgment of God? Do we not know that the saints shall judge the world, as Paul teaches ?"

Consider next the testimony of Justin Martyr, who was born in the year of our Lord 89, and suffered martyrdom A.D.163 or 166. (See Blake's Biographical Dictionary and Brooks' Elements of Prophetical Interpretation.) In his dialogue with Trypho, he says: "I and all that are Orthodox Christians, are acquainted with the resurrection of the body and the thousand years in Jerusalem, that shall be re-edified, adorned and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah, and others, declare."

The testimony of Irenaeus also is very full and explicit on this subject. He succeeded Pothinus as Bishop of Lyons, about A. D. 171, and was martyred in A. D. 202 or 208. He speaks of St. John the Apostle, as having lived to the times of Trajan, of Polycarp as a hearer of St. John, and of himself as a hearer of Polycarp. (See Brooks Elements of Prophetical Interpretation, p. 39, and Cave's Lives of the Fathers.)

"It is fitting," says Irenaeus, "that the just, rising at the appearing of God, should in the renewed state receive the promise of inheritance which God covenanted to the fathers, and should reign in it; and that then should come the final judgment. For in the same condition in which they have labored and been afflicted, and been tried by suffering in all sorts of ways, it is but just that in it they should receive the fruits of their suffering, so that where, for the love of God, they suffered death, there they should be brought to life again; and where they endured bond

Archbishop Wake's Collection of the Apostolic Fathers. Ep. of Polycarp to the Phillippians. Chap. 2d. p. 94: ed. 1834. Hartford, Ct.

† Apostolic Fathers, ib. Chap. 4th.,

p.

98.

Mr. Brooks says that some have placed his martyrdom as early as A. D, 146. El. Proph. Interp. p. 38.